I have been following the adventures of the Boeing Starliner crew, whose 8-day mission morphed into a 10-month stay.
In my last report, the SpaceX Crew-10 mission earlier this week was scrubbed due to a hydraulics issue with the transporter-erector, the structure that hauls the Falcon 9 to the pad and supports it once it’s there.
I am now happy to report that the rescheduled launch was successful, and relief is now on the way to astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
The Starliner sagais one step closer to its end with the launch Friday night of a SpaceX vehicle that will relieve the astronauts who months ago flew to orbit aboard the now-infamous Boeing spacecraft.A mission known as Crew-10 is on its way to the International Space Station, where for the past 10 months NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have unexpectedly found themselves stationed for an extended stay.Wilmore and Williams, of course, were catapulted into the public eye back in June when the Starliner vehicle they piloted to the space station encountered a series of issues that ended with the spacecraft leaving them behind.
The Crew-10 vehicle should be landing at the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, and if the ‘luck of the Irish’ holds, the two Starliner crew members will be back on Earth mid-next week.
Once there, astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will finally be able to return to Earth at some point on or shortly after March 19.The pair have been stranded in orbit since June 5, with SpaceX owner Elon Musk and many others claiming Williams and Wilmore were left on the ISS for political reasons.The duo were initially scheduled for an eight day mission….Crew-10 includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov.Alongside Williams and Wilmore, NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Aleksandr Gorbunov will be returning home on board SpaceX’s Crew-9 Dragon capsule that is already docked at the ISS.
Many Americans have been eagerly awaiting the return of Wilmore and Williams, and prayers are being said for their safe return.
I will simply note a successful launch on “Pi Day” seems fitting.
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